ABSTRACT
The recent availability of a wider selection of remote sensing data allows an improvement in spatial resolution over the existing products. It also allows exploiting the temporal domain of remote sensing data. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission has been working on the production of enhanced remote sensing-based forest products. Two pan-European forest maps with a ground sampling distance (GSD) of 25 m have been produced based on Landsat ETM+ imagery and IRS LISS-III, SPOT 4-5, and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro radiometer (MODIS) remote sensing data. Besides these high-resolution products, the JRC is carrying out research to improve forest monitoring capabilities at 250 and 500 m GSD based on time-series analysis of remote sensing data. This chapter presents the methodologies used in the production of these maps and their accuracies and discusses future potential developments in forest monitoring at the pan-European level.
